I’m not sure if it is just a product of our automated American culture, but it seems that we often shy away from hard work. Hacks, fool-proof, easy, autonomous, set it and forget it…all for the betterment of human life, right? When it comes to having a robot vacuum my carpets for me, I’m all in. All of these life hacks and time savers are meant to reduce the struggle and challenges in our lives and give us more time for the important things. However, I believe they also can contribute to an inability to tackle challenges we face on a daily basis. When things feel difficult or our progress is not as fast as we expect, we believe we must be doing something wrong.
I would argue that the convenience of having things done for you (or made easier) can make the process of becoming a faster or better version of yourself even more challenging. We turn around when things become difficult or uncomfortable. When we do not succeed the first time, or when we fail for the second or third time, we start the negative self-talk and say things to ourselves such as, “I will never…figure this out, get any faster, pass this test, insert whatever from your life.” However what if, instead of avoiding challenges we face them head-on knowing that perfect execution of the challenge is not the goal, but stepping up to face it is?
As I frequently tell my kids (and sometime clients), hard does not mean bad. Hard often means challenging; it often means doing things that make us uncomfortable, or doing things we just don’t want to do. These are the things we say we feel no motivation to start on. But when we do them anyway, and give ourselves the freedom to accept less than perfection, we build confidence to take on the next hard thing. We face the challenge, seek it out, and learn from the outcome no matter what it is.
I challenge you this week to do something hard each day. It could be something in training, or something in every day life. It could be as simple as making your bed each morning. The more hard things you do, the more confidence you will build to tackle the next hard thing.